Next week, another element of California’s Prop 63 will go into effect: background checks to buy ammunition. Purchasers will be required to pay one dollar and submit to an electronic background check at the point of sale when buying type of ammo in California. The state claims the background check, which will check to see if the buyer is prohibited under California law for things such as having a felon conviction, will be fast.
Proposition 63 passed in a landslide vote in 2016. The pro-Second Amendment side was outspent four-to-one, with $4.5 million coming in support of the restrictive Proposition 63, and $1.1 million raised to oppose the measure. The California Democratic Party came to the table with $1.15 million, while the NRA pitched in $95,000 and the California Republican Party didn’t even make the list of top five donors, which was rounded out by the California Waterfoul Association with a $25,000 check. The National Association of Gun Rights, national affiliate of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, was not a player.
Serious question, since the level of creativity and original thought is not exactly high within the Democrat caucus under the Golden Dome: is this the kind of stunt that they would try to pull next year? Is this something that Jared Polis would sign?
They just might. We could assume that State Senator Leroy Garcia would come down on the right side of this one, like he did with other gun control legislation during the 2019 session. But winning over just one Democrat in the State Senate would not be enough next year.
With the state’s gun lobby significantly weakened by failed recall efforts, Democrats emboldened by their belief that Trump will bring down the Republican ticket in Colorado next year, and national progressive leaders trying to out-crazy one another on the national stage, the conditions may be set for an even more radical agenda in 2020.
And this brings up another serious question: why didn’t Second Amendment supports show up in California – at the ballot box or on campaign fundraising reports?
The Second Amendment is the one Amendment that ensures all others work, because a disarmed population is at the complete mercy of the state. Sadly, we are pretty sure that’s exactly what a number of Democrat leaders in this state are looking to achieve.